Microsoft and Aspen Avionics ink exFAT licensing agreement. What's noteworthy about the announcement is that it is the first agreement forged by Microsoft in the avionics industry, and is also the first agreement that Microsoft has announced in the commercial sector, thus demonstrating that exFAT (Extended File Allocation Table) is great for commercial and consumer […]

Share online:

Microsoft and Aspen Avionics ink exFAT licensing agreement. What's noteworthy about the announcement is that it is the first agreement forged by Microsoft in the avionics industry, and is also the first agreement that Microsoft has announced in the commercial sector, thus demonstrating that exFAT (Extended File Allocation Table) is great for commercial and consumer applications alike.

"Innovative avionics requires a modern file system, such as exFAT, that can handle significantly larger file sizes to display richer data than legacy file systems could handle," said David Kaefer, general manager of Intellectual Property (IP) Licensing at Microsoft.

"This agreement with Aspen Avionics highlights how exFAT can help directly address the specific needs of customers in the aviation industry, and we're delighted to make exFAT available to the company through our intellectual property licensing program," adds Kaefer.

"exFAT is a modern file system improving on its predecessor, the FAT file system, and greatly expands the size of files that flash memory devices can handle by more than five times over the previous technology. It also greatly increases the speed with which those files can be accessed. The exFAT file system not only facilitates large files for use of audiovisual media, it enables seamless data portability and an easy interchange between desktop PCs and a variety of electronic devices."

In other Microsoft news,

Microsoft announced that Stephen J. Luczo, chairman, president and CEO of Seagate Technology PLC, has been appointed to the company's board of directors, bringing the board's size to 11 members.

"Steve has deep technology and financial expertise, and we are delighted that he is joining Microsoft's board of directors," said Bill Gates, Microsoft chairman.

"As the leader of a global company with more than 50,000 employees, with deep insights into storage, hardware, data management, and finance, Steve will bring a wealth of experience to our board," said Steve Ballmer.

Luczo, 55, has been a director of Seagate since 2000, and has served as president and CEO of Seagate since January 2009. "I'm looking forward to joining the Microsoft board at such an important time for the company and for our entire industry," said Luczo. "Unprecedented transformations in consumer and commercial architectures and applications are occurring based on cloud computing and mobility, and Microsoft is at the center of much of the core technology driving these trends."

Microsoft announced that Office 365 was granted the authorization to operate under the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) by the Broadcasting Board of Governors.

"Office 365 is the first and only major cloud based productivity service to sign EU Model Clauses with all customers. In addition, we added the Data Processing Agreement (DPA) to the EU Model Clauses to address additional requirements from the EU member states. Office 365 also signs the Business Associate Agreement (BAA) to meet the security requirements of the US Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Importantly, Office 365 signs the HIPAA-BAA, DPA and EU Model clauses with all customers regardless of size. Along with EU Model Clauses and HIPAA, Office 365 is ISO 27001 certified," Mirosoft stated.

Microsoft's Yunsun Wee, director, Microsoft Trustworthy Computing, in a statement on an investigation meant to determine which of its security partners was responsible for a data leak back in March said that Hangzhou DPTech Technologies Co., Ltd. was responsible for the breach.

On March 15th, Microsoft announced that it was aware of public proof-of-concept code that was designed to exploit said vulnerability, which was patched only a few days before.

"The details of the proof-of-concept code appear to match the vulnerability information shared with Microsoft Active Protections Program (MAPP) partners," Yunsun Wee said at the time.

"During our investigation into the disclosure of confidential data shared with our Microsoft Active Protections Program (MAPP) partners, we determined that a member of the MAPP program, Hangzhou DPTech Technologies Co., Ltd., had breached our non-disclosure agreement (NDA). Microsoft takes breaches of our NDAs very seriously and has removed this partner from the MAPP Program," Wee said.

Additionally, Microsoft has also started strengthening existing controls and took actions to better protect its information. "We believe that these enhancements will better protect our information, while furthering customer protection by aiding partners developing active protections," adds Wee.

"By providing technical details about a vulnerability directly to defenders, we strengthen their ability to create more effective and accurate signatures in a shorter timeframe," Maarten Van Horenbeeck, senior program manager, Microsoft Security Response Center, explains.

This is why details related to the vulnerabilities addressed in MS12-020 were provided with all MAPP partners under a strict Non-Disclosure Agreement, a move that led to said code leak.

For an in-depth look at how MAPP provides a critical head-start to defenders, while working to minimize risk, please read this blog post by the MAPP team.

Post navigation

About The Author

Deepak Gupta is a IT & Web Consultant. He is the founder and CEO of diTii.com & DIT Technologies, where he's engaged in providing Technology Consultancy, Design and Development of Desktop, Web and Mobile applications using various tools and softwares. Sign-up for the Email for daily updates. Google+ Profile.